


Concurrences

by TK_DuVeraun



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, It's all OCs ya boy, Mentions of Death, Rating-Consistent Violence, just here for archiving purposes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-18 21:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16524671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TK_DuVeraun/pseuds/TK_DuVeraun
Summary: A bunch of OCs none of y'all know up to shenanigans. Posted for easy reading for my buddies.





	Concurrences

**Author's Note:**

> I am so out of fucks to give for posting this, but it's nearly 10k, I'm not putting it on tumblr.

Terenti sniffed as he looked at the red and white striped ball in his hand. He’d been crying a lot since their mom died, and the gift their dad had brought back from his business trip didn’t stop the waterworks just yet. “He’s just trying to distract us,” he told his twin with precocious certainty, refusing to open the ball and reveal the Pokemon inside yet.

Vasili nodded, but decided he didn’t care. He pressed the button and released his pokemon. Out popped a little yellow and blue mouse thing - like a pikachu, but better. He gently pet it between its ears. “You’re the best!”

The minun jumped into his lap and nuzzled Vasili’s face.

Terenti activated his own ball (it had to be said with some haste after seeing Vas’s awesome Pokemon) and cried out in delight at the sight of the yellow and red mouse. “Look, it’s got little pluses. They’re twins! Just like us.”

Plusle rolled on its back as he pet it.

“Mine’s better,” Vasili said, sticking out his tongue. His minun hopped out of his lap and joined the plusle on the floor. They squeaked happily at each other and let off static electricity.

“No _way_. Mine’s way cooler looking. Red’s better than blue.”

“Nope,” Vasili said. He reached out and tickled his pokemon, who hopped off his friend to turn around and nuzzle Vasili again. “You’re the best! My second best friend ever.”

“What do we call them?” Terenti asked, scooping the plusle up in his arms. Electricity jumped from its cheeks, but so low-powered that it just sort of tickled, causing him to giggle.

“I think this one’s minun and yours is a plusle.” Vasili touched his nose to the pokemon’s.

“Oh yeah. Like the little minus sign and plus sign. Well, Plusle, I’m Teren and I’m the better twin. You lucked out,” he told the Pokemon.

Vasili stood and held down his hand for Minun’s paw. “Come on, let’s go explore.” He looked over at Terenti to see if he was coming.

“Yeah, let’s go with them,” Terenti told Plusle. It climbed upon his back and held on with its little paws.

 

\----

 

“ _Vas_ !” Terenti shouted, stomping out of his bedroom and into his twin’s. “You have to clean up my room _right now_!”

Vasili was playing a videogame, Minun holding a second controller and mashing the buttons. Fluffer, his cottonee, was sitting on his head, flapping its wings. All three of them looked up when Terenti stormed in. “Huh?”

“Your cottonee left its stuff all over my bedroom! It’s all over my things and stuffed all into… my things!” he said incoherently.

Fluffer and Minun both giggled. Vasili just affected an innocent expression. “I have no idea how it got there. Why, it must have blown in on the wind, just like…” He trailed off and nudged Minun, who gave him a curious look before hopping up and letting out a tiny shock of electricity.

A basket of petals that had been hanging over Vasili’s door fell onto Terenti’s head.

“Petals suspiciously like your petilili.” Vasili grinned.

Terenti scowled at him, wiping petals out of his face. “Yours is harder to clean up!”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vasili said. He then turned back to his game, holding Minun’s controller for him until he sat back down - a task that took a while, since he had to detour to Terenti and rub cheeks with Plusle before scampering back.

“Yeah, because that fluff totally came out of nowhere. Yeah right.”

“Whatever, ask Father to help clean it up if it’s too challenging for you.”

Terenti rolled his eyes. “Like I’d ever do _that_. He’s not even a good Trainer.”

“Then you should stop complaining and figure it out yourself.” Minun finally settled down next to Vasili, though he was sparking enough that the controller would undoubtedly short out again.

“Yeah whatever, I can clean it, I just wanted you to do it.”

“Not going to happen,” Vasili said. Minun and Fluffer squeaked their agreement.

Terenti gave a long-suffering sigh. “Fine, be an asshole.”

“I’m just repaying the favor.”

“I would’ve helped clean if you asked,” he lied.

“You tried that one last time,” Vasili said, engrossed in the game. “You’re just lucky I invited my girlfriend over and she thought the petals were for her.”

“Ugh, I helped you get laid? Now I feel even stupider.”

“Well tell Lilly her petals were much appreciated.”

“ _She_ probably will love it, that jerk. Can’t even be good and mad with me,” Teren grumbled.

“She loves you. Just like Plusle and me and Minun. Get used to it.”

“Yeah yeah. I wish we had more badass Pokemon. The kids at school think we’re lame.”

“The kids at school are idiots and jealous. Sa'alle is the only one with anything decent and she doesn’t care.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, guess so. The girls think they’re adorable, so that’s good…”

“Why don’t you go bother the public school kids if you’re feeling sorry for yourself?”

Terenti shuddered. “As if.”

“I don’t know. Some of them are kind of good looking.” Fluffer, sitting on his head, made sounds of agreement.

“... Well, okay, good point there.”

“And most of the people at our school are so high maintenance. And one of them even insulted Minun!” The pokemon nodded soberly.

“What? Was she a girl? I don’t think girls are physically capable of disliking Plusle and Minun,” Terenti said, momentarily outraged through his pretending to be too cool.

“Right? It was ridiculous! But she didn’t even _have_ a pokemon. Hers probably ran back to its family, if she ever even had one.”

Fluffer shivered in agitation on to of Vasili’s head and little bits of cotton floated through the air.

“Yeah, she sounds awful. She deserves that.”

Vasili and Minun nodded in tandem. Minun looked over at Terenti - not that he’d _really_ been playing the game and held out the sparking controller in offer.

“Uh, thanks. I’ll probably need to wait for that to wear off, though,” he told Minun.

Minun’s ears drooped for all of two seconds before Plusle darted past Terenti and sat next to Minun. They each took one half of the controller. A tiny plume of smoke curled away from it as it _definitely_ shorted out. The pokemon didn’t seem to notice. On further inspection, the controller wasn’t even plugged in to anything.

Teren chuckled in spite himself as he got a proper second controller. “They still love that.”

“They’re helping,” Vasili said, grinning. He swapped the game to two-player mode and settled in for extremely antagonistic co-op.

 

\----

 

Vasili sat on the edge of one of the estate’s pools. Fluffer floated across the water’s surface while Minun called directions from the opposite edge. Minun was also wearing Wellington’s and a child’s size rubber suit in addition to staying out of the water. Vasili looked down at Drake, the goomy whose slime was starting to ooze over the ledge and into the pool. “It’s alright, you know.” Vasili kicked his legs in the water for emphasis.

“Don’t those things shrivel up if they get dry? You think it’d be more eager to jump in the water in that case,” Terenti called from the middle of the pool. Polly the poliwag swam in a lazy circle around him.

“Teren, you’re not helping.” Vasili looked back down at Drake. “It’s alright. We’ve got the kiddie pool inside, or the bathtub, if you don’t like it. Look, Minun’s not even close.” The goomy made a wide-eyed expression and then slurped over the edge into the water.

It wasn’t buoyant, so it simply cling to the side of the pool wall while looking back and forth between Vasili and Fluffer. Fluffer then flapped his wings enough so that he was floating nearby, a trail of wet cotton behind him.

“You _would_ get the weird slug thing,” Terenti said as he swam back towards the diving board. “Poly is gonna be a Politoed. That’s one of the toughest Pokemon out there. It brings rain along with it.” Polly spat a jet of water into the air, as if to concur that it would be a total badass. Right now it just looked cute, though.

Plusle and Lilly weren’t having this pool thing, lounging in deck chairs well away from the water.

“Drake is a _mighty dragon_ ,” Vasili insisted. The goomy, however, was busy blowing bubbles. Minun cheered him on from the side.

“Uh-huh.” Terenti snickered as he climbed up the diving board’s ladder.

“Don’t make fun of him! This is why you can’t keep a girlfriend.”

“Because I don’t have a goomy?”

“Because you can’t appreciate any pokemon other than your own.” Vasili hopped into the pool and pulled Drake off the wall and awkwardly placed the pokemon on his back.

“That’s not true,” Terenti challenged from the top of the diving board. “I appreciate lots of _cool_ Pokemon. It’s just that nobody around here has any of them!”

Vasili rolled his eyes and walked around the shallower end of the pool, Fluffer following behind. “Whatever you say, Teren.”

“Good, glad we settled that,” he said with purposeful misunderstanding as he dove into the pool. Unfortunately, Vas had moved too far away to be properly splashed. Polly seemed to enjoy it though.

When his brother surfaced, Vasili splashed him. “Stop being a brat.”

“Ah, you jerk! I got some in my eyes.”

“Oh, you poor baby.” Vasili splashed him again.

Terenti started splashing back. Polly swum over to vigorously defend its Trainer, mostly by spraying water everywhere.

Vasili laughed and they continued to fight in the water. Eventually, they had to stop, as Fluffer had put too much cotton in the water and it was starting to stick to everything wetly. Vasili climbed out of the pool and picked up Minun, who had his arms extended. “Let’s go get some lunch, Teren.”

“We should go into town. That cafe has this one cute waitress…”

 

\-----

 

Interning for their father’s company was the definition of hell. Stupid Nicolai and his insistence that they _actually learn what they were doing_ before he just handed it over. So annoying. At least, that was Terenti’s line until he saw their colleagues. One colleague in particular.

Tarya Lin was their age and damn, was she a stunner. Legs for _days_ . She didn’t seem to be involved with anyone, but Terenti knew that wouldn’t last long. He needed to make his move quickly. Hopefully she’d be impressed with the fact that he’d inherit the whole company… if that failed, there was always Plusle. Girls _loved_ Plusle.

She worked late that day, which was his chance. He didn’t leave with Nicolai and Vas, but stayed behind on some pretext. After half an hour of preening himself in the mirror, he was ready. He strolled, falsely casual, towards Tarya’s office, Plusle riding on his back.

Tarya wasn’t at her desk. In fact, Terenti could see her back - easily identifiable by her long, curly, blonde hair - in one of the offices. Before he could really think that through, he was tackled to the floor by her persian.

“Hey, hey, what the hell?” he protested, lifting an arm against the cat’s claws. Plusle growled and sparked with electricity, but he waved it down from attacking.

Tarya stared at him, wide-eyed and hair slightly frazzled. “Oh, uh, you’re still here!”

“Yeah, I was gonna come by and… well nevermind why I was here.” Terenti was sure Persian had ruined his nice shirt and was altogether too flustered to proposition her _now_. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Tarya said too quickly. She then realized her pokemon was still on top of Terenti and whistled a low note, which signaled her persian to amble back over to her. He then groomed one paw. “What are _you_ doing here so late?”

Terenti picked himself up with all the dignity he could muster. Damnit, Persian hair was _everywhere_. He tried to brush it off. “Uh, just working late, you know how it is. You?”

“Same, same.” She had a handful of papers that she mixed in with the papers on her desk before moving to stand between Terenti and the papers. There was a caw and a small murkrow flew down from somewhere else in the room and landed on her shoulder.

“... So why did you have your persian pounce on anyone who interrupted you and why are you trying to hide what you were working on?”

“Bishop was just making sure that no one snuck up on me. I’m easily startled.” Tarya sounded mostly convincing, but for the first time in knowing Terenti, Tarya looked her age - 18.

Terenti narrowed his eyes. “Then there wouldn’t be a problem with me looking at your project. I’m the owner’s son, after all. He has me check on things sometimes.”

With one hand behind her back, Tarya gestured to a tiny floette that was holding a blue flower and hovering just over her desk. It sprinkled some kind of sparkling dust on the pile of papers. “Uh, sure, nothing really important, though. I’m just an intern. Busy work.”

“I’ll just see about that.” Terenti moved past her and picked up the papers, but once he did so, he couldn’t quite remember what exactly he was looking for. He stood listlessly and stifled a yawn.

Tarya put a hand on the center of Terenti’s back. The murkrow sat on one shoulder and the floette sat on the other. “Are you tired, Mr. Volkov?”

“Uh, yeah. Guess I had a long day,” he muttered. “And here I came down to ask you out and I didn’t even get around to it.” Plusle was jumping up and down in some agitation, but Terenti didn’t notice.

“Why don’t we go get something to eat? It’s only seven. Dinner and some coffee?”

Terenti brightened up and dropped the papers. Who cared about business anyway? “Yeah. Let’s do that!”

Having none of _that_ , Plusle hopped up and released Lilly, then a liligant, from her pokeball. Lilly immediately frowned at Terenti and created a sweet breeze to dispel the effects from the fairy powder.

Tarya watched this in horror. Her floette hid behind her flower and her murkrow cawed with agitation.

Terenti blinked as muddling effect was cleared from his head. “Hey, wait a minute… I was suspicious and--” He scowled at Tarya. “You dosed me! You’re _definitely_ up to something.” Plusle nodded, little arms folded severely.

“Uh…” Tarya looked down at Bishop for help, but the persian’s expression was a clear ‘I told you so.’ “So, how about dinner?”

Terenti rifled through the papers. “Were you transferring the expense account into your _own_ account? Damn. Stealing from the company. I ought to tell my father all about this.”

“Just a little cash…” Tarya looked away from him and scuffed her boot on the floor. Since he was standing so close, Terenti could then see that they _weren’t_ designer, but in fact, a knock off. The same went for her purse. “No one would have ever noticed it.” Her murkrow cawed agreement.

Terenti stood silently, with a severe frown, milking the moment for all it was worth. Then he just handed her the papers. “Hell yeah he wouldn’t. Vas and I have been pinching things from Nicolai since we were kids.”

Bishop seemed to perk up at this. He purred and nudged his head into Terenti’s hand. Tarya’s expression remained a little stiff, though it now seemed hopeful. “So… Dinner?”

“Yeah, but you’re buying. Or rather, my dumb father is.” He snickered as he took her arm.

Plusle eyed them both speculatively, but eventually gave a solemn nod and uncrossed his arms.

 

\----

 

Fluffer dragged Vasili by the hand through the park. It was early evening and the sun hadn’t even begun setting. The whimsicott had been trying to get to the park for a few weeks, but Nicolai had insisted he and his brother work every day. Minun rode on his shoulder in a little padded sling, squeaking and chattering in Vasili’s ear.

Once they reached the flower garden, Fluffer cheered excitedly and released Vasili’s hand so he could roll in the pollen. Minun climbed out of the sling when Vasili sat on a park bench. He took a deep breathe of the fresh air and let his thoughts drift. At some point, Fluffer climbed onto the back of bench and rested against his head. Vasili chuckled but stayed in place. He wasn’t quite hungry enough to get up yet.

“Hey! What are you doing?” A young woman with dark, baggy clothes ran up from the other side of the park. Her skin was pale and her arms and the visible part of her abdomen were decorated with delicate, black, fine-line tattoos. She had a bandolier on her chest that was holding a honedge across her back.

Vasili blinked up at her from his relaxed position. “Resting?” Minun stood on the bench and squeaked angrily at her.

She pointed to his head. “Fluffy is _my_ pokemon! Give him back!”

Vasili tilted his head back and instead of Fluffer he saw a swablu that blinked down at him. The swablu then wiped his face with his wings before flying off to return to the girl. The swablu - Fluffy - landed on the girl’s obviously dyed hair.

Vasili laughed. “Sorry, I just assumed it was Fluffer - my whimiscott.”

As if summoned, Fluffer appeared at the woman’s feet then and offered up a flower he’d picked.

The woman’s unimpressed krokorok stood at her side and glared at Fluffer. The woman then switched up her posture until it mimicked the pokemon. “You were trying to take my Fluffy!”

Vasili held both of his hands palm up. “I wasn’t even going anywhere. I’m sure your swablu was just playing around. No harm, no foul. I’m Vasili, by the way.”

The woman continued to glare, but Fluffy flew down to rest on Fluffer’s head and the two chattered excitedly at each other, cotton fluffing out and drifting through the air. The sight was enough to make a smile crack across the woman’s face. “Alright fine. I’m Cakara. I guess they’re friends now.” She shoved her hands into the deep pockets in her baggy pants.

“Looks like it.” He pulled out some pokemon treats and offered a few to Cakara while handing one to each of Fluffer and Minun.

Cakara accepted the treats and passed them to her pokemon. “I was supposed to meet my buddy Atin here, but he ditched me for some girl.”

Vasili shrugged. “My twin did the same thing.”

Minun poked Vasili and then pointed to his open mouth.

Vasili looked at his watch. “Oh yeah, it is that time, huh?” He looked over at Cakara. “Want to go grab a bite? I’ll pay. You know, for the inconvenience.” He gestured to her swablu.

Cakara smirked. “Alright, pretty boy. After you, then.”

“Oh, pretty boy. I like the sound of _that_.”

 

______

 

Things with Tarya were going great considering how they’d met. Nicolai remained oblivious to the small amounts of money being siphoned from his company, and it gave them both a rush every time they got away with it. With the anniversary of that first embezzlement coming up, Terenti was heading out of town to get something celebratory from a shop that met their… particular needs.

He took his bike, Plusle riding happily in his backpack. The shop was in the next town over, annoyingly, but the weather was good, at least. He resolved to catch something that he could fly around on at some point.

Teren was nearing the next town when something a little off the road caught his attention. A swarm of Mandibuzz circling over something. Typically that meant something dead, something the carrion birds wanted to eat. He didn’t really want to get near a dead Pokemon--but Mandibuzz could fly, couldn’t they? This was a good chance to catch one.

He ditched the bike and moved towards the Mandibuzz. As he did, he noticed that they weren’t attacking a dead Pokemon. The little creature was very much alive. It ducked its skull helmet under questing claws and lashed out with its little bone club to keep them at distance.

Plusle hopped out of the bag in agitation at the very sight. Terenti nodded at the little mouse as it started charging power. He quietly released Lilly, Polly- now a poliwhirl - and Sandy the pupitar from their balls as well. Plusle released an electric storm over the flock of Mandibuzz, with the other three wading into the fray after the opening attack.

Terenti picked up the little cubone, frowning at it. “What’re you doing out here all by yourself?”

His Pokedex chirped up unheeded (he really needed to turn off the notifications). “Cubone are often attacked by Mandibuzz when separated from their parents!” it explained with unwarranted cheeriness.

“Which is a nice way of saying they were killed by something or other.” He frowned as the little thing started to cry. Plusle immediately started bawling as well, picking up on the situation or having some odd empathy with the Cubone.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” he promised, cradling the cubone in his arms and feeling his eyes water a little, himself. “I know what it’s like to lose your mother.”

 

\----

 

Vasili and Cakara were rather heatedly making out in the park where they had initially met. Because she resented wealth and nobility - even Vasili’s pseudo-nobility of the nouveau riche - she had his designer-clothed body pressed into the grass and mud. Their pokemon were keeping themselves busy (and keeping watch) while their owners were busy.

Minun and Sunglasses - Cakara’s krokorok - came running through the grass to interrupt them. Vasili laughed as they separated. It was about parr for the course that some poor stranger was close to stumbling on them. But the pokemon remained agitated even after Vasili and Cakara had righted their clothing.

“What’s wrong?”

“Did something happen?”

Minun squeaked and chattered to Vasili while Sunglasses signed and gestured to Cakara silently. The two humans looked at each other, eyebrows raised and then followed after the pokemon. They walked deep into the park and eventually reached the edge that butted up against the forest that surrounded the city.

Fluffer and Fluffy were both crouched on the grass, having an intense discussion with a shroomish that seemed unsteady on its feet. Cakara knelt down next to the shroomish and did a few, quick pokemon diagnostics. “Hey little guy. What’s wrong?”

It mumbled at her and Cakara nodded along as if she understood. Meanwhile, Fluffy gestured with her wings towards a few unconscious spearows that had probably been bullying the shroomish. Cakara pulled out a potion and started gently pouring it into the grass pokemon.

Vasili shrugged at the scene and look down at Minun, who was still tugging on his hand. “He’ll be fine, Minun. It’s alright.”

Minun squeaked angrily and proceeded to pull him further on. When Vasili was just a foot away from Fluffer and Fluffy, Fluffy lifted one of her wings to reveal a greenish baby vulpix with only one tail. A sympathetic noise escaped Vasili immediately. He knelt down and picked up the weak, seemingly abandoned cub. “Oh you poor thing. Cakara come here.”

Cakara held the shroomish under one arm and moved to kneel next to Vasili. “Oh no, that poor thing looks so sick!”

The vulpix opened his eyes and made a weak sound. Vasili stroked its back gently. He pulled a treat out of his pocket and broke it up into crumbs. Slowly, the vulpix licked the crumbs off his hand. Vasili then gave it some water from his own bottle and cradled the poor pokemon. “Hey, shh, you’ll be alright. Hey, Fluffer, can I have some help?”

The whimsicott pulled at his cotton and pulled and pulled and handed Vasili a loose pillow’s worth of cotton. Vasili wrapped the little vulpix up in the cotton and stood. “We need to get to the pokemon center.”

Cakara nodded and gently stroked the vulpix’s ear before they started making their way back into the city. She spoke with her voice low. “There was a family of vulpix living in the edge of the forest the last few weeks. Do you think the mother rejected this one?”

Vasili nodded and replied in his own whisper. “Probably, with this coat mutation.”

“It’s alright, little one. We’ll take care of you,” Cakara said at a normal volume. The shroomish was forgotten under her arm. The two cotton-like pokemon followed worriedly behind.

 

\----

 

Galaar knew that he was the luckiest boy ever. He didn’t just get one Pokemon from his parents, as many people did, but two! To all the world, it looked as though he’d been given two Torchic. Even his father had thought that, bringing both back from the foreign breeders’  as they were inseparable friends.

That night, in his room, the second Torchic felt comfortable enough to drop the illusion. For it _had_ been an illusion. A little, black-furred fox was nuzzled against Galaar’s face and on his pillow when he woke up.

Galaar had no idea what it was, only knowing that it was _amazing_. He rushed to tell his dad when Curyan returned from work, but by then the fox had donned its Torchic disguise again. Something stopped him, even as a child, from violating that trust. The poor thing must have been afraid of being left behind when it started the illusion.

It took Zorua years to feel like it could show itself openly. Even then, it still seemed to enjoy becoming Torchic and playing with its friend more than being itself. Only his close friends were in on the secret, to their universal delight.

Zorua’s abilities were useful in the pickup battles in the Trainer School, too. Opposing Psychic type pokemon had no idea a dark type was hidden behind the veneer. When Torchic became a Combusken, vulnerable to Psychic, the trick alone could win an entire battle.

Curyan’s job as a police officer kept him working long hours and nights, so Galaar, Torchic and Zorua were on their own. Not that any of them minded--three was the perfect number. They explored every nook and cranny of the island… well, besides the water. Playing in the beach sand was fun enough, though.

Zorua’s illusion powers were even strong enough for it to pretend to be people. The older Galaar got, the more apparent the countless, hilarious applications of this trick might be. The highlight came when Zorua pretended to be the Trainer School principal and got his entire class sent home early by flustering the teacher. He’d been punished for that one, but _so worth it_.

He could also confound wild Pokemon, making it easy for Galaar to catch the ones he wanted once he got old enough for the Island Trials and made his way around the four islands. Zorua pretended to be a fearsome toucannon, herding the charjabug into his ball for its own “safety.” Mudbray was lured in by another of its own species. Its finest moment came when it pretended to be a pikachu long enough to make friends with one of the strange mimikyus. The mimikyu was so happy with Galaar loudly proclaiming that he saw two pikachu that it followed him out of the haunted supermarket.

With his full team at his side, he managed to get through the Trials and return home as a teenager. Curyan, never one to use words when a grunt would do, smiled upon his return and said the best thing Galaar had ever heard. “I’m proud of you, son.”

“Thanks, dad.” He stuck his hands into his pockets and gave an awkward shuffle, not used to the effusive praise.

“I’ve got something for you. Abandoned egg I found on patrol. Obviously we couldn’t just let it sit there, so we brought it in for stabilization. The Pokemon inside should be fine now, so it just needs a good Trainer. The whole station thought of you, since you just finished the Trials.”

“Really? That’s great.” Galaar took the egg carefully. “I can’t wait to see what it is.”

“Take your time getting it hatched,” his father suggested. “There’s not a lot going on right now, with it not being tourist season.”

“I will. And then I’ll figure out what I do next,” he promised. He couldn’t wait to see what the next adventure might be.

 

________

 

Vasili eyed his brother. Chompy and Sandy were wrestling while Plusle and Minun cheered from the sidelines. “So… You moved Tarya into our apartment.”

Terenti shrugged, lounging on a chair. “I mean, it’s a big apartment. I didn’t even think you’d notice.”

“I didn’t. Cakara got on a tear about how there was no space in the fridge. I know _you_ don’t eat fruit salad.” Vasili shrugged. “I thought you two were just messing around.”

“We’re just having fun, but this way there’s more fun more often. It’s not a big deal,” Terenti said, not seeming aware that this would conventionally be a big deal. “What about you? I thought Cakara didn’t want to be seen with some rich boy in public. Hurting her street cred or whatever.”

“Nah, her gang likes me. Actually, they’re planning a trip to Alola soon. Some kind of non-league tournament.” Vasili picked a piece of fluff off his jacket.

“No, really? Tarya and I were thinking of taking a _company trip_ out there for our two year anniversary.”

“We should sign up for doubles!” Vasili grinned.

Terenti looked at him skeptically. “I don’t know… Sandy and Chompy are a good combo, but what else do we have?”

“Polly and Drake, Kit and Lilly and Fluffer… And of course there’s Plusle and Minun and Bonney.” Vasili counted them off on his fingers. “Everyone’s great together. And they love each other.”

“Okay, strategically you have a point,” Teren agreed, ignoring the last point with a roll of his eyes. “I bet we could get pretty far. People _love_ tournament champs.”

“Especially since we’re twins and _stylish_.”

“Right? We could start rolling in endorsements.”

“That’ll be good. We’ve just gotta keep Cakara out of the promo pictures.” Vasili rubbed his chin, sparing a single complaint that his facial hair wasn’t growing in thick enough yet.

“She wouldn’t be caught dead with something that lame in public, probably. And once we get a fanclub, Tarya and I will get some variety.” Terenti rubbed his hands together.

“...Uh, she just doesn’t want her family flying out and causing a scene.” Vasili ignored the comment about his twin’s sex life.

“Wait, what about her family? You’ve probably explained this before, but I wasn’t paying attention.”

Vasili rolled his eyes. “She’s from the Tyn family! You know, out of Kalos with Cassandra?”

“Oh yeah, they have a bunch of fancy muckity-mucks over in Kalos,” Terenti said, remembering. “And she wasn’t having it and ran off.”

“Yeah, that’s why she pretends she doesn’t like luxuries. She wears designer and disguises it as junk whereas _Tarya_ wore knock offs until you started buying her things.” Vasili fiddled with his keystone amulet.

“Correction, the company _expenses policy_ is buying her things.”

Vasili waved vaguely. “It all comes out of our inheritance in the end.”

“Not if we become fantastically rich on our own merit,” Terenti pointed out. “Hence winning this tournament.”

“Alright. As long as you don’t pretend that Plusle isn’t good enough for you. You know how sad it makes him.”

“I’m just saying, him _and_ Minun is asking for an Earthquake to the face!”

Vasili rolled his eyes, unswayed, as ever, by the complaint. “What will look better in the promos? Chompy or Minun?”

Terenti pondered this. “Okay. Cute sells. Especially our whole twins with twin Pokemon thing. You win this round.”

Vasili gave him a thumbs up. “Want me to get tickets for you and Tarya?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

 

\-----

 

“Ugh, look what the skitty dragged in. Volkov and Volkov,” Cassandra said, sneering at the twins. Don blew out a curl of thick, black smoke. Bellan, as always completely unhelpful, jumped forward and sent tiny, pink hearts floating towards the twins.

“Vas, look, it’s Sa'alle. Damn, she’s gone down in the world,” Terenti said, smirking as he nodded towards the boy with her.

Cassandra proceeded to cuss them out in her native language.

Vasili held up one finger. “Hey, I know some of those words. That’s not very nice.” Minun and Fluffer were inspecting the sylveon at length, both clearly delighted.

“Um. Friends of yours?” Galaar guessed, blinking at the identical twins. As Plusle jumped in on the fun, Mimikyu scooted over too and was clearly delighted when the new Pokemon seemed to be buying his electric mouse disguise.

Cassandra huffed and crossed her arms. “I went to school with them. They’re nouveau riche.” She turned a bit and the twins could see there was a komala asleep and clinging to her backpack.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. According to Cakara, you old money kriffers are the worst.” Vasili held out a bunch of treats for the assembled pokemon.

“Yeah, she’s kind of stuck up. But I assume you’re into that, and knew what you were getting into” Terenti told the boy.

“How do you know we’re not just friends?”

“She doesn’t have friends,” the twins said in unison.

Cassandra sniffed, clearly offended. “Who’s this Cakara person, anyway?”

Vasili looked up from the pokemon. “Huh? Oh. Uh… S-something from the Tyn family.”

“ _Elisabet_? You know her?”

Vasili shrugged.

“Ugh, you’re useless!” Cassandra said, stamping her foot.

Galaar felt very confused. “Who’s Cakara/Elisabet?”

“Some other Kalos rich person who doesn’t want to be a Kalos rich person,” Terenti explained. “Unlike Cassie, who loves it.”

“Don’t call me that!” Don spit a burst of flame in Terenti’s direction, but clearly with no real intent behind it. Plusle, the traitor, was sitting on his back.

“So how’d you meet our lovely friend here?” he snickered towards Galaar.

“Well, she traded me me a Wishiwashi for my Eevee,” Gal muttered.

“This _shiny_ Eevee?” Terenti indicated Sylveon. “Wow. You’re dumb.”

Bellan growled and his ribbons thrashed aggressively.

“We trained a lot together,” Cassandra said, also glaring at Terenti.

“Yeah, we’re _friends._ So stop making fun of her,” Galaar agreed.

“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands in surrender. “So what, you’re here for this tournament too?”

Cassandra nodded. “It’s not associated with the Pokemon League so I can actually compete.”

“Right, you’ve still got that whole problem. How have you not just assumed a false identity and name yet?”

Cassandra scowled. “My siblings ratted me out. Twice.”

“Wow, that sucks. Vas and I would never rat each other out,” Terenti said smugly. “Right, Vas?”

“Never.” Vasili leaned over and picked up Fluffer. The whimsicott immediately started shedding more cotton in happiness.

Cassandra eyed the twins. “You two idiots aren’t seriously going to try doubles, are you?”

By that point, Minun had joined Plusle in riding on Don’s back.

“Uh, of course we are. We’ve got three types of weather setters and three Pokemon that will benefit from weather,” Terenti said, still in smug mode. “We’re gonna win it all.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes and looked to Galaar for agreement, but he seemed impressed.

“Uh, I mean, it seems like a pretty good strategy,” Gal muttered, wincing once he could tell that wasn’t what she was looking for.

Cassandra threw her hands up in disgust. “You’re no help. Forget it. Fine. Talk about how _cool_ your team is with them. I’m getting lunch.”

“I feel like I just said the wrong thing,” Gal sighed as Cassandra stalked off.

“Women just want you to agree with them, whether or not they’re right,” Terenti confided with all the experience of someone whose one steady relationship had lasted two years.

“That’s pretty true,” Vasili agreed. His pokemon all nodded solemnly. Even Don, _Cassandra’s_ pokemon, nodded.

“So I ought to go tell her she was right and you’re both horrible people?”

“Something like that.” Terenti made a shooing motion. “Go on, before she gets too far away.”

“Nah, I think he should give her some time to cool off,” Vasili said. He looked at Don, whom he knew Cassandra had grown up with and therefore was the authority on all matters Sa'alle. Don nodded back. “See? There you go.”

“Ah… Okay,” Galaar said, also clearly used to deferring to Don. “So you guys are from Unova? If you went to the same school.”

“Yeah,” Teren said. “Our dad’s rich, so coming out this far is nothing.”

Vasili shot his brother a look. This kid was nothing, they didn’t need to brag to him. He looked up at Fluffer, who was pulling his hair. The whimsicott chattered at him a bit. “My girlfriend was coming for the tournament, so we thought we’d tag along.”

“Oh, neat,” Galaar said. “I’ve never entered one of these things, but I just finished the Alola Trials recently, so I guess it’s time to figure out what I want to do next.”

“The what now?” Terenti said.

“Oh, yeah, maybe you wouldn’t have heard of it. It’s basically a rite of passage here. Go around all four islands, defeat the seven trials.”

“Yeah, I read about that. Since they’re not part of the Pokemon League, they don’t have the standard gym arrangements. The captains all have to be under twenty, right? It keeps kids out of trouble.” Vasili fingered his keystone. “Do you guys here know about mega-evolution?”

Before Galaar could answer, Tarya’s chubby honchkrow appeared and her right behind it. It looked like she was carrying a giant purple-pink berry in her arms. Tux, the honchkrow, settled into the nearest tree as she joined the group. “The nurse says it’ll be fine. That was the weirdest thing I’ve seen murkrow do.”

“Uh, what’d we miss?” Terenti asked, just now realizing Tarya had gone off on her own at some point, apparently.

“The local murkrow tried to impress Tux by bringing him a _pokemon_.” She nodded to the one in her arms with her chin. “This is a bounsweet, one of the local ones.”

Vasili frowned. “I hope Tux had words for them.”

“Aww. Poor little thing. Glad you were able to save it before they did too much damage,” Gal said.

“Oh yeah,” Terenti said. “This is Tarya, my--well we’re together, and this guy is, uh…”

Galaar realized he hadn’t introduced himself and did it properly. “Galaar. I’m a local, sort of. We came from Hoenn, but I grew up here. Can’t remember anything else.”

Vasili was cooing over the little bounsweet and trying to coax it into accepting a treat.

Tarya stared at him, since his face was almost in her cleavage, and turned to Terenti. “He’s doing it again.”

“Well don’t hold the Pokemon there, and _Vas_ , for Arceus’ sake stop _cooing_. You’re ruining our rep. Ruining!”

“You’re walking around with a Plusle and Minun. That’s the first impression,” Gal pointed out.

“Nobody asked you!”

Vasili gave them all offended looks, but backed up. Fluffer patted the top of his head soothingly. He looked up at his pokemon. “I know you appreciate me.”

Tarya frowned at Terenti. “What am I supposed to do? Make her walk around on her own? She’s injured! And the nurse said I shouldn’t put her in a pokeball for a few hours because of the trauma.” Tux cawed apologetically. Her floette appeared from her hiding spot in Tarya’s hair and dusted the bounsweet with sparkling fairy powder.

“Carrying her is fine, but since Vas is drawn to cute Pokemon like a mothim to flame I’m just saying, he’s gonna be doing that,” Teren clarified.

“That evolutionary line is really cool,” Gal said, as undeterred by Terenti as everyone else. “I have the Pokedex entry for all three of them. The final stage, Tsareena is very strong.”  

Tarya nodded. “That’s what the nurse said. This one will stay with me when it gets better.” The bounsweet made a noise of agreement.

Vasili petted it gently. “Fluffer and Lilly will be happy to have a new grassy friend.”

“Are you entering the doubles too? I know Floette can power up friendly grass-types,” Galaar asked, remembering a battle he’d had against one.

Tarya smirked. “No thanks. Go big or go home. Singles for me.” Tux jabbered his agreement overhead.

“I’m entering those too. Maybe I’ll run into you.”

Tarya glanced at Terenti and then snickered at Galaar. “You’d better hope not.”

  


_____

 

That Galaar kid had been annoying--he still didn’t see why Sa'alle had been into him, unless she was into empty-headed pretty boys--well, actually that explained it. Anyway, in the course of his useless babble about Alola and its Pokemon, he’d mentioned something useful. The Pokemon called Salazzle would be a good gift for Tarya. Only the female salandits could evolve, which was weird, but not completely unheard of. Terenti resolved to head over to the volcano natural park to catch himself a female one.

Eight hours later, he was regretting that he hadn’t done basic research first. Because the ratio of male salandits to female salandits was completely buggered.

“No, that one’s got male bits too,” he said for the umpteenth time, straightening up from a careful examination of the squirming lizard clutched in Tyranitar’s hands. It had spit corrosive acid towards him. Luckily he’d thought to wear goggles, but the acid burned another hole in his fancy clothing.

“Argh, nobody is worth this,” he complained, sighing as he sat down on an exposed rock. Bonney patted his shoulder consolingly.

“Fine, if you’re going to be like that, _I’ll_ date her,” Atin said, appearing from behind a rock formation. A stufful trundled along a few steps behind him, keeping pace with a litten, who was spitting little jets of flame at the grass.

“Uh… do I know you?” Terenti blinked at the intruder. It looked a little like the gang that Cakara (and by extension, Vas) ran with, but he’d never bothered to learn who any of them were.

“Oh, sorry, you’re the other one. Teren, right? I’m Atin.” He held out his hand to shake.

Terenti shook it, still wearing the heavy flame-and-acid-retardant gloves he’d been using to check the salandits’ unmentionables. “Yeah. He said you all were coming to Alola, which is why we’re here in the first place. You know, him and Cakara.”

“Yeah, I know.” Atin was obviously bitter. Both pokemon at his side rubbed against his legs consolingly.

“... Oh. Shit. It’s like that.” Terenti grimaced, not exactly feeling sorry for the gang guy--because he didn’t care, of course. It was just that Bonney looked kind of sad, like always.

“Yeah… But it’s been two years. I should be over it.” Atin grimaced. “So you looking for your girlfriend? The sexy blonde one?”

“Uh, yeah. I know she’d be into Salazzle. It’s her style. But only the female ones evolve and there’s about a 9 to 1 ratio.”

“87.5% to 12.5%!” his Pokedex chirped cheerfully.

“Ugh.”

Atin looked down at the stufful. “Hey Candycane, you wanna help him out?” The cub chattered up at him before disappearing into the grass. Atin moved to stand next to Terenti. His litten followed along and started grooming.

“I’ve never seen one of those. How’s it gonna help?” Terenti asked, watching the Pokemon trundle off. “Is it a good hunter or something?”

“Nah, it’s really cute and has some pheromone thing that attracts pokemon of the opposite gender.” Atin rubbed the back of his neck, clearly not sure on the details.

“Cute Charm,” Terenti’s pokedex chirped. “This pokemon is strangely irresistible to all species of pokemon, assuming a compatible gender.”

“Right. I really need to turn the notifications to silent,” he muttered. “Well, thanks for the assist. You want help getting over Cakara in exchange? Tarya’s got some hot friends.”

“Uh, that’s not necessary, but I certainly won’t say _no_ …” Atin chuckled nervously, not sure if Terenti was sincere.

Candycane appeared out of the grass, carrying a struggling salandit by the back of its neck. The salandit struggled and spat, but thanks to the stufful’s hold the fire and acid hit only the ground.

“You just saved me another eternity of hell if that one’s a girl,” Terenti said, bending to examine it. A moment later he gave a cry of triumph. “Success! Oh, I’ll pick out your rebound girl, don’t you worry about it.”

“Er, thanks.” Atin pulled his bag around and dug through it. He held out a collection of pokeballs. “You should put it in something cool for her.”

“Oh _yeah_ . See, _quid pro quo_.” Terenti examined the selection before picking out a pink ball with a heart on it. “Here we go. Suitably anniversary-gift-y.”

“Nice thinking.” Atin bent over and picked up the stufful to nuzzle him. “Good job, Candycane.” The stufful hugged Atin’s face and made happy noises behind being set back down. “Hey, uh, next time you talk to your brother, let him know he should get Cakara a thunder stone. She’s been trying to hide that she wants to evolve her pikachu because she thinks she’s taking advantage of your twin.”

“... Taking advantage how?” Terenti asked, scratching under his chin.

“Obviously her family cut her off when she ran away.” Atin shrugged. “And our jobs don’t make that much cash.”

“Yeah, but we’re rich beyond belief. Neither of us would miss the cost of a thunder stone. Weird thing to worry about.”

“Cakara’s a good, honorable person!” Atin said, annoyed. He kicked the ground. “And your brother treats her well. I can’t _really_ be angry when she’s happy.”

“Maybe I’m weird because I met Tarya embezzling from our company. It was hot,” Terenti mused aloud even as Atin complained. “Oh, we moved on to you. Uhh… yeah, you have no good reason to be upset. But you will until you can move on. Hence rebound girl.”

“Yeah, so just let him know to give her a stone. There’s a nice shop on Ula’ula island. Kriff, I _hate_ being the good guy. Are you done here? We should go get drinks.”

“Yeah. I’ll call Tarya and tell her to bring a friend. The really hot one.” Terenti clapped Atin on the back. “She can be bad enough for you both.”

 

\----

 

When Terenti returned to their hotel suite, the first thing he noticed was an albino-white Vulpix next to the already weird-colored Vulpix. He grimaced. “Vas, what the hell? You already _have_ a Vulpix. Are you just collecting them like a Breeder now?”

“Look, I didn’t make this decision. _Kit_ made this decision.” Vasili gestured to where the greenish vulpix was grooming the white one. They seemed really into it, but both kept flinching at the temperature differential between the two of them. Whimsicott looked on and occasionally did a little fairy-healing to one or the other.

“Alolan-form Vulpix!” the Pokedex chirped, before Terenti managed to shut it off with a growl of frustration. He paused. “Wait, did he just say it’s a different form? Like… it’s actually different besides the color?”

Vasili knelt next to the two vulpixes. “Hey Kit, can you have your friend do the thing?” Kit nodded and barked a little to the white vulpix and then a tiny snowstorm started in the suite.

Teren blinked. “Oh shit. It can start Hail? We’ve been looking for one of those!”

Kit dispelled the storm with her own fake weather and the snow melted and evaporated up. She then head-butted the other vulpix affectionately. Vasili grinned at his twin.  “I think she’ll fit in well. Apparently, Alolan-form ninetails is fairy type, too.”

“Whoa. You fell ass backwards into something really strong, this time.” Terenti shot him a thumb’s-up. “Good job.”

“You know… marowak has an Alolan-form, too.” Vasili smirked.

“I know. I saw one in the tournament. It’s _way_ cooler than normal Marowak, and if I power up Bonney here it’ll evolve that way thanks to the… environment or whatever,” he said, waving a hand vaguely. “However it works.”  

“I think it would suit her… Wait…” Vasili seemed to look at Terenti for the first time. “What happened to _you_?”

“Oh yeah,” Terenti said, looking down at his hands. Despite the goggles and gloves, some of the acid and fire had gotten through. “I was catching a salandit for Tarya.”

Vasili whistled. “Wow. Did you get a girl?”

“It took me _hours_ but yes. Mostly because Cakara’s jilted ex showed up and had something with the right pheromones.”

“Atin is _not_ her ex.” Vasili made an annoyed sound. “He asked her out, she said she wasn’t interested and he politely accepted it. Besides Noble never liked him. It wouldn’t have gone anywhere.”

“Yeah yeah, I was just teasing. He’s being very mature about the whole thing. So I got him trashed and then got one of Tarya’s friends to take him home. Guy deserves to get laid,” Terenti smirked.

Vasili raised his eyebrows. “That’s surprisingly nice of you.”

“Well, he did catch me the salandit. But I mostly wanted to help you and Cakara out because I’m totally a good brother like that,” he said, completely unconvincing.

“You’re the best twin I could ever have,” Vasili said with a laugh. Fluffer threw a handful of cotton at him. “I appreciate it. Atin is a good guy.”

“Okay, okay, I admit it. Tarya and I just wanted to get rid of her friend. She started to get really annoying,” Terenti admitted, unable to keep up the pretense for even half a minute. “She wasn’t even invited on the trip and came anyway! Who _does_ that!”

“...Oh, well, so much for that. I’ll buy Atin a round after he dumps her.” Minun made disapproving squeaks. “Well what do you want me to do? Go find his hotel room and crash his date?” Minun’s ears drooped, but he eventually nodded.

“The guy doesn’t need a serious relationship right now. He needs to get laid,” Teren said sagely. “He’d never start something serious off right while he’s pining for Cakara. This is all for his long-term good, you know.”

“I find your logic reasonable,” Vasili said, though his pokemon still seemed to disapprove.

“I mean, I was totally just getting rid of her but I thought up all that justification afterwards, and it totally works, right?” Terenti smirked until Bonney whacked him on the back of the hand with her bone. “ _Ow_. Okay, okay, I won’t do it again.”

The twins shared a look that clearly said they didn’t see the problem with this, though they wisely kept their mouths shut for once.

 

____

 

“You know,” Galaar said, the next time that he saw Cassandra--which had been a good while, acting on Don’s advice to let her cool down-- “You were completely right about those Volkov twins. They _are_ completely useless.”

Cassandra sniffed disdainfully and sipped at a cup of tea. Envy - her serperior - was wrapped around her on the fancy couch.

“They’re either stupid, or act like it all the time.”

Envy tried to thrash his tail in agitation, but Stumpy, her komala, was clinging to it. Envy settled on a stern glare in Galaar’s direction. Cassandra also glared at Galaar before taking another sip and picking up a delicate cookie.

“Uh, anyway, the point is you were right and I should’ve just gone on your side from the very beginning,” Gal said. He wished _he_ had one of his Pokemon for moral support, but he hadn’t wanted to waltz in here with a zoo when she was mad at him already.

“This is about Swishywish, isn’t it?”

“No way! Swishywish is awesome.” He left out the silent _now_.

Cassandra sniffed again. “It’s about time I went back to Kalos, anyway.”

Galaar frowned. “I don’t… I’d miss you, Cassandra. And I wouldn’t want it to leave off like _this_!”

“Oh, you’ll be _fine_. You can be friends with Volkov!”

“I don’t _want_ to be friends with Volkov. They’re empty and vapid.”

“That’s what _I_ said, but there you go, buddying up with those idiots.”

“I know, I know, I should’ve listened to you from the start. It was wrong.”

Envy flicked his tongue out at Galaar in a way that seemed even more sinister with the glare.

Just as Cassandra was going to say something else derisive, Bellan ran into the room and started throwing little hearts around before going up to nuzzle Galaar. The sylveon _was_ rather more friendly with Galaar than his owner usually liked, but if Cassandra was _really_ angry, even Bellan would give Gal the cold shoulder.

“Oh come on, Bellan. I was going to sweat him out!”

Galaar laughed as he hugged Bellan back. “I deserved it.”

Cassandra sighed dramatically and slumped down in her seat, pouting. Envy nuzzled her affectionately, similarly annoyed by the ruse ending. “Jerk.”

“Seriously, I should’ve just listened to you first thing. And I’m _not_ still mad about Swishy. That was my fault for not doing research.”

“I _do_ have to travel to Kanto after the tournament, though.” Cassandra ate a cookie, properly that time. “I haven’t seen my uncle in years.”

Galaar nodded. “Family’s important. Could I come? I’ve never been away from Alola and it’d be cool to see some whole other region and its Pokemon!”

Cassandra nodded. “That should be fine. The only downside is I can’t compete in anything.” She sighed.

“Oh yeah… because the League runs all the Gyms everywhere but here. Where there aren’t any.” Galaar frowned. “That’s still not _fair_.”

“Yeah, I was hoping to make a big show out of the tournament, but with the fucking _Volkov twins_ here with their _adorable_ plusle and minun no one’s going to pay any attention to me!”

“They are kind of adorable, aren’t they,” Gal muttered. “Uh, well, we could try for a better fake Trainer ID?”

She sighed again. “No, my siblings will just rat me out again. Jerks. They’re just envious because they battle for shit.” Envy nodded his agreement.

“Maybe we can get them to back off somehow. They have to have better things to do than mess with something you’d like to do!”

She rolled her eyes. “You really don’t understand rich people.”

“... Yeah, I guess not. Well they _suck_.”

She nodded and then looked around. “Where’s Blaziken and Copycat?”

Gal held out the balls in the palm of his hand. “I thought I’d come in alone since you were upset.”

“Well?”

He grinned and released the Pokemon. Copycat was so adept at its illusions by now that it practically _came out_ looking like Blaziken’s identical twin--or at least, it changed faster than Galaar could process. The two hi-fived.

Bellan jumped with excitement and sent a bunch of hearts Copycat’s way.

“You two are supposed to keep him out of trouble. What were you thinking?”

Original Grade Blaziken shrugged expansively, as if to say _have you seen that guy? It’s impossible_.

“I know that, but you can’t just let him hide you in a pokeball to get away with _more_ shenanigans.”

Both folded their arms and nodded in agreement. Galaar winced. “Now they’ll never go back in. Some places _make_ you put your Pokemon away, you know.”

“Those aren’t places worth going,” Cassandra said imperiously. All of the pokemon nodded in agreement.

“ _Good_ point.” He released Pikaboo next, who immediately scooted over towards Bellan.

Cassandra sighed. “I’ve been looking at the other entrants. If I’m unlucky in the brackets, I’ll get put up against an altaria - undoubtedly mega - and talonflame. It’s a bad match up.”

“Um… yeah, that’s tough. Maybe you can use Stumpy to take a hit and  set up a more favorable matchup.”

“That’s a lot to sacrifice in a three on three. And if she brings that aegislash- _wait a second_.” Cassandra broke off and started cursing.

“What? Did you think of something?”

“This Cakara person is _Elisabet Tyn_ just like the idiot twins said. Fuck. I owe her a black eye.”

“Oh, yeah,” Galaar said blankly, then the realization struck. “Oh _yeah_. You know her.”

“Yeah! Her stupid swablu ruined my hair one time in grade school.”

“That _bitch_ ,” he said after a moment’s pause, remembering the lessons from the twins. Blaziken gave him a quizzical look.

“Well _she_ ran away before we could grow out of the rivalry, so it’s her own fault.”

“She seems to hate everything and everyone she ran away from. But your family is _horrible_ to you, so I don’t know if she’s wrong.”

“But all _she_ has is her brother, and _Rhion_ is _great_.” Cassandra’s voice had turned dreamy. Undoubtedly a childhood crush that she’d never revisited after growing up.

“Uh, I’m sure he is.” Blaziken was rolling his eyes. Copycat had grown bored and was now copying Mimikyu, the two shuffling around playing some sort of game.

“I saw that, Mr. Fried Chicken,” Cassandra said to Blaziken.

“He’s just never had a childhood crush,” Gal laughed.

Cassandra raised one eyebrow and then slowly looked back and forth between Blaziken and Copycat. Blaziken was suddenly examining his fingernails with some interest.

“... No, really? I would’ve noticed something like that!”

Envy rolled his eyes and curled the rest of the way around Cassandra. Bellan, who had also heard, was now just filling the room with little fairy hearts that bounced once against whatever they hit before bursting into sweet-smelling dust that disappeared after a few seconds. (Fairy types were _weird_.) Cassandra just raised her eyebrow further.

Blaziken snorted and turned his back on them pointedly.

“Oh man. I never realized. That’s great,” Gal told the Pokemon, who was now rolling its eyes at the sentimentality.

“I think he’s just disappointed you never noticed. Why did you think I got them those little matching coats? As a joke?”

“I just thought it was cute. Copycat’s _always_ wanted to look like Blaziken.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Well done, Gal. Way to be oblivious about your two best friends.”

“Now I feel like an asshole,” he said, sighing.

Bellan padded over and made it clear that _he_ still loved Gal.

“That’s awesome, though,” he told Blaziken and Copycat while petting Bellan. “Good for you two.”

They were unimpressed, it having been ‘good for you two’ for years that Gal seemed to have had his head in the sand.

Cassandra drank the rest of her tea. “I really don’t know how you got this far in life.”

He shook his head. “Me, either.”

She eyed him for a moment before crooking a single finger. He stared back blankly for a few moments until Envy slithered out of the couch and started herding the rest of the pokemon out of the room.

 


End file.
